Wildhunt Shifter Barbarians

[solidork]

Now that the racial Shifter ability is moving to PB uses per long rest, the Wildhunt Shifter ability that makes it so that people can't attack you with advantage as long as they're within 30ft of you and you're not incapacitated is pretty interesting for Barbarians because of Reckless Attack.

It's a little annoying that rage and shifting are both on your bonus action, but advantage on all of your attacks with no downside a few times per day is a pretty sweet benefit. Has anyone tried this and did it make a significant improvement in survivability or was it not really needed considering the damage resistance you get with Rage?

[Psyren]

Yeah it's a decent combo. If you're using Reckless Attack a lot, this will probably provide greater protection than Beasthide in the long run, and definitely more than Swiftstride.

You give up Longtooth for this one but if you already have a bonus action attack (e.g. PAM) then you didn't need it anyway.

Regarding the BA conflict between rage and shifting - I agree that's a pain. For most combats though you usually won't need both. If you don't expect the combat to last longer than 3 rounds, I'd just use one or the other.

[Ralanr]

Regarding the BA conflict between rage and shifting - I agree that's a pain. For most combats though you usually won't need both. If you don't expect the combat to last longer than 3 rounds, I'd just use one or the other.

Honestly just save it for a boss battle or a swarm and go ham.

[Psyren]

Honestly just save it for a boss battle or a swarm and go ham.

I had the same annoyance on my Longtooth Beast Barbarian. Three attacks at 3rd level, four at 5th level, all with advantage and the rage damage bonus added on top of my strength sounds fantastic on paper (and the DPR figures were *chefs kiss*), but needing two bonus actions in a row to turn them all on was much less so. Great for shredding a boss, but for most fights not worth the trouble.

[stoutstien]

I think the wild hunt option is better as an OR option to rage rather than AND. Prof per LR would allow them to safely RA in those encounters that aren't quite worth raging for. Could still double down during the climate encounters.

[Psyren]

I think the wild hunt option is better as an OR option to rage rather than AND. Prof per LR would allow them to safely RA in those encounters that aren't quite worth raging for. Could still double down during the climate encounters.

Agreed; shifting in general works best as an "or" outside of boss fights. It has the added bonus that, at low levels, you get to do something cool in every combat without burning all your rages, e.g, fight 1, shift, fight 2 rage, boss fight both at level 3. (Or better yet, those longer fights where you start with some minions for the first couple of rounds but then alert something nasty who arrives with reinforcements 4-5 rounds in, you start with one but then add the other one as your "ultimate" - those are always fun :smallamused:)

The action economy conflict is even worse for my Beast build, which dips Rune Knight so I can be a consummate grappler but requires a third bonus action to turn on Giant's Might. But my GM is allowing me to shift as an action whenever I rage on the first round so it's not so bad. (At least if I end up fighting anything Huge then there's a good chance the fight will take a while...)

[Dr.Samurai]

In 3rd edition there was lore surrounding shifter factions and fighting styles, and a tactical feat called Ragewild Fighting.

I think a half-feat that allowed shifters to shift with the same bonus action that they rage (and some other benefit/s as well) would be nice for those fights you need to cut loose immediately.

[kaervaak]

Exploring Eberron has a shifter racial feat that extends their shift to 10 minutes. That's long enough to have it active for multiple combats or to pre-shift before a big battle.

[Psyren]

Exploring Eberron has a shifter racial feat that extends their shift to 10 minutes. That's long enough to have it active for multiple combats or to pre-shift before a big battle.

Thanks for the heads up, my DM might be okay with this one since it's from KB himself.

[RedMage125]

Thanks for the heads up, my DM might be okay with this one since it's from KB himself.

If you haven't checked it out yourself yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. Especially for an Eberron fan. It's all more Kanon than Canon, but it's very good.

The Monk and Druid subclasses in particular are sweet. And there's new races like Znir Gnolls, and variant goblinoids to represent how different Dhakkani Dar are from their surface cousins.

And all the content for Droaam, The Thunder Sea, and the Planes are amazing.

Sorry for the promotion. But I bought it (pdf and dead tree), and no regrets at all.